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Increase Your Margins by Reducing Your Paper
By Steve Neigh, Hyland Software, Inc.
 Document imaging and management — converting paper documents to scanned images and effectively managing them — can increase your margins by reducing the cost of doing business. Electronic document management improves communication and helps ensure that jobs are done right the first time. It’s the electronic solution that helps your business “measure twice and cut once.”
What Is Effective Document Management?
Document management is what sets the scanning of business documents apart from creating a collection of family photos on your home PC.
Instead of simply saving documents to your hard drive or computer network, document management allows you to store and find electronic documents quickly and efficiently. It allows you to assign keywords to documents and search for the information you need based on specific criteria.
For example, you may want to review all of your company’s documents related to a specific vendor or customer. Document management allows you to simply type in the name of that vendor or other search terms and gather a list of relevant documents.
These documents can be cross-referenced, allowing users to move from one related document to another, such as a purchase order and a variance purchase order, simply by double clicking.
Document management also encompasses more than what traditionally is considered a document. E-mail, faxes, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and reports from transactional systems can all be stored and searched electronically in a single document management system.
Instant Availability
By going paperless, these documents are instantly available to everyone who has access to the system, and you control the access. Also, unlike paper files, documents in a document management solution can be backed up to other media including CDs/DVDs or a tape drive.
These technologies can improve processes from accounting to managing change orders, and help track customer interactions from prospect through construction.
Questions about a job can be answered faster — whether they are raised by a supervisor during construction or years later by a home owner.
You also can create strategies to improve processes that have been prone to error, increased expense or potential liability, and then track the actions that were taken. Your electronic trail can be as extensive as you want — from maintaining an electronic audit trail of vendor contracts, insurance verifications and W-9s, to developing a method to avoid unnecessary variance in purchase orders, to ensuring that those who need to know are aware of change orders.
Given the increased warranty periods offered in the industry today, maintaining a virtual job packet is a must. Smart builders who include everything about a home can significantly improve their ability to provide excellent customer service. And they can do so easily through document imaging and management.
Creating virtual job packets will not only increase the probability that your customers will generate good “word-of-mouth” for your business, they could be invaluable in the event of arbitration.
Your Document Management Doesn’t Need to Be Complex
Implementing a document management system need not be expensive or complicated. A well-thought-out solution can be integrated with other business applications with virtually no programming.
It can be deployed incrementally, allowing you to purchase basic functionality and easily add users, increase volume and implement more complex technology as needs and budget dictate.
The system can be maintained in-house or hosted elsewhere for a monthly fee.
However, while choosing a solution that can be deployed rapidly and is easy to use will deliver nearly immediate improvements and pay for itself quickly, you also need to calculate the total cost of ownership by investigating the cost of maintenance and enhancements as you add users, document types and functions and provide remote access.
To implement a document imaging and management solution, consult a technology solution provider offering software and hardware products and with the experience to address the business needs of the home building market.
Additional resources are available through the media and industry associations such as AIIM International (www.aiim.org).
Steve Neigh is the vertical lead for construction at Hyland Software, Inc., developer of OnBase® ECM software (www.onbase.com). A member and contributor to NAHB’s Business Management & Information Technology Committee, Neigh has 12 years of experience in imaging/home building. For more information, e-mail Neigh, or call him at 440-788-5898.
 NAHB Technology Solutions Directory Now Online
NAHB’s Technology Solutions Directory — an easy-to-use directory that enables builders, remodelers, contractors and other industry professionals to find information on software and IT solutions and services for their businesses — is now online. The directory is sponsored by the Business Management & Information Technology Committee.
Software and technology solutions providers interested in being listed can sign up for:
- Enhanced Listing — Listing includes company name, URL, e-mail address, mailing address, phone number, company/product description, company logo. Click here for more information.
- Standard Listing — Listing includes company name and phone number. Click here for more information.
For more information, e-mail Wil Heslop at NAHB.
The Technology Solutions Directory is solely for educational and informational purposes. Nothing in the directory should be construed as policy, an endorsement, warranty or guaranty by the National Association of Home Builders of the listed software, IT service or the software/IT vendor. The National Association of Home Builders expressly disclaims any responsibility for any damages arising from the use, application or reliance on any information contained in this directory.
NAHB Has More Than 250 Resources to Help You Run Your Business More Profitably
Go to NAHB's Business Management Tools Web pages (available to NAHB members only) for instant access to more than 250 timesaving, moneymaking and cost-cutting business resources to help you run your business more profitably. Get guidance on accounting and financial management, business strategy, computers and information technology, customer service, human resources and more.
Resources are added weekly, so bookmark www.nahb.org/biztools to go directly to these vital business management resources.
Local and state home builders associations can link directly to www.nahb.org/biztools from their Web site and give their members instant access to these resources. It will make your association's Web site the place to go for the information and guidance that members need to succeed.
Subscribe to NAHB’s Business of Building e/Source
NAHB’s Business of Building e/Source is your monthly electronic guide to the hot issues and emerging trends in home building business management. You’ll find practical advice, tricks of the trade and sound business guidance — all delivered monthly, straight to your desktop, in a quick and easy-to-read format.
Business of Building e/Source is available free to NAHB members and their employees.
To subscribe, visit www.nahb.org/BoB on the Members Only side of the NAHB Web site.
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